By RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times
Raymond Boyle | Chicago Police
Raymond Boyle allegedly enlisted a pair of friends to help lure a man he’d feuded with on Facebook to a Lincoln Square alley and beat him.
When the fight was over late Monday afternoon, Boyle’s cohort, 20-year-old Angelica Escamilla, was dead, Cook County prosecutors said Thursday.
Boyle and his other pal, Dalton Stropes, were also injured, as was their teenage prey, who police determined stabbed Escamilla in self-defense, Assistant State’s Attorney Barry Quinn said Thursday.
Boyle, 21; and Stropes, 20, were charged with Escamilla’s murder because she was killed while they were committing felonies—aggravated battery and engaging in mob action, authorities said.
Escamilla had repeatedly punched the trio’s 19-year-old target during the brawl in the 2100 block of West Windsor Avenue, Quinn said. She also allegedly got into the man’s face and threatened to “beat his ass.”
Boyle had first approached his enemy in the street. Once they ended up in the alley, Escamilla and Stropes emerged, Quinn said.
The man who was cornered by the other three took out a 2-inch pocketknife to scare the others, but put it away, Quinn said. Escamilla then threw the first punch. Boyle and Stropes followed, punching and beating the man with Escamilla’s help, Quinn said.
When the man who was being attacked was backed into a pole, he removed the knife from his boot and stabbed Escamilla in the chest, Quinn said. The man also stabbed the two others before he was able to escape and call 911, Quinn said.
A neighbor, who saw some of the fight as she pulled into her garage, glimpsed two people run past her home. She also saw Escamilla lying on the ground bleeding and stayed with her until police arrived, Quinn said.
Boyle eventually came back to the alley with his fiancee, who had gone to a nearby library to use the restroom during the deadly brawl, Quinn said. Boyle’s fiancee had heard her friends discuss fighting the 19-year-old man before she went into the library, Quinn said. When she came out of the building, she saw Boyle running with blood all over his face, Quinn said.
Boyle had explained to her what happened as Escamilla tried to cling to life. But he ran away before police came, leaving the neighbor and his fiancee to put pressure on Escamilla’s wound, Quinn said.
The man who was beaten by Boyle, Escamilla and Stropes had told police what happened and where he was. Authorities took him to Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston.
He suffered contusions to the head and ribs, a sprained knee, bruised neck, bite mark to his back and chipped front tooth, Quinn said.
Boyle, of the 1500 block of North Pulaski Road, refused treatment at Swedish Covenant Hospital, but he had cuts to his face.
Stropes, of the 2000 block of West Arthur Avenue, suffered multiple stab wounds to his right bicep, left nipple and upper back. He remained hospitalized Thursday at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center with a punctured lung, a Chicago Police officer told Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr.
Bourgeois ordered Stropes—who is on supervision for a trespass case and probation for an aggravated battery case in Peoria County—held without bond Thursday.
Boyle was ordered held on $1 million. He allegedly admitted luring and beating his rival in the alley, Quinn said.
An assistant public defender said Boyle is expecting a child.